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Stories from Lawrence M. Small

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Star-Spangled Principles

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Taken by Surprise

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They Eat to Serve

Stuart's Lansdowne portrait of George Washington

A Gift to the Nation

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Smithsonian Science

Extending a Recording Discoveries and Innovation

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Keeping Time

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

A Rare Bird

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The Liveliest Museum

George Gustav Heye

A Passionate Collector

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The Impossible Job

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Reading the Bones

Jeweler Harry Winston donated the famous Hope Diamond—the largest-known deep blue diamond in the world—to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. It arrived in a plain brown package by registered mail, insured for one million dollars. Surrounded by 16 white pear-shaped and cushion-cut diamonds and hanging from a chain with 45 diamonds, the rare gem attracts 6 million visitors a year to the Natural History Museum.

The Hope Diamond

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